The meat supply chain is characterised by many stakeholders and a wide variety of products. It also exhibits several vulnerabilities to various kinds of manipulations. Past food scandals have highlighted the complexity of fighting food fraud in a supply chain that is highly dynamic and moves across many borders. The aim of the pilot is to provide an analysis of various levels of vulnerability in the meat chain and to identify gaps in the food fraud vulnerability assessment.
A key vulnerability in the prevention of food fraud is related to the development of analytical methods. This pilot will therefore provide an overview of existing methods covering all possible manipulations at every stage of the supply chain. It will also develop and test a methodological framework to detect and prevent meat mislabelling.
Furthermore, analytical tools such as mass spectrometry, NIR, DNA biochip, DNA barcoding and DNA metabarcoding will be developed or adapted to detect fraudulent practices. The pilot tests include the substitution of beef with beef organs, the substitution of beef with other animal species, the mislabelling of grain-fed as grass-fed beef, and the addition of hydrolysate to poultry.

Relevance to ALLIANCE

This pilot uses mass spectrometry and DNA to detect fraudulent practices. Similar tools are also employed in the ALLIANCE project, albeit in different value chains, namely PDO/PGI EVOO [https://alliance-heu-project.eu/pilots/dna-blockchain] and PGI Faba beans [https://alliance-heu-project.eu/pilots/ai-assisted-nir-and-hsi-rapid-te…].

Country: Germany URL: https://watsonproject.eu/use-cases/meat/